This article describes changes in the number of average weekly hours of market
work per person in the United States since World War II. Overall, this number
has been roughly constant; for various groups, however, it has shifted dramatically—from
males to females, from older people to younger people, and from
single- to married-person households. The article provides a detailed look at
how the lifetime pattern of work hours has changed since 1950 for different
demographic groups. This article also documents several factors that lead to
the reallocation of hours worked across groups: increases in relative wages of
females to males; technological innovations that shift female labor from the
home to the market; increases in Social Security benefi ts to retired workers; and
changes in family structure. The data presented are based on those collected by
the U.S. Bureau of the Census during the 1950–2000 decennial censuses.